Mw 6.6 Fiji Region

On 18 November 2018 a strong earthquake occurred in the Fiji Region at a depth of 520 km. The seismic event occurred at 20:25:45 UTC and had an estimated moment magnitude (Mw) 6.6.

A series of planetary alignments occurred from 12 to 19 November, converging with critical lunar geometry on 16-17 November. The direct trigger was the Venus-Mars-Neptune alignment on the 16th and the Moon's alignment with Mars and Neptune near the same time.

Sun-Mercury-Neptune       2018-11-12, 12:37:36  345°12'52"
Venus-Sun-Jupiter         2018-11-14,  5:43:42  242°44'50"
Venus-Mars-Neptune        2018-11-16, 12:08:38  343°52'10"
Sun-Mercury-Mars          2018-11-18, 23:23:19   15°55'29"
Venus-Mercury-Saturn      2018-11-19,  2:00:14  278°02'45"

Earth-Moon-Mars           2018-11-16,  4:28:42  329°54'03"
Earth-Moon-Neptune        2018-11-17,  7:36:21  343°27'06"
          

SSGI depiction of planetary (PG) and lunar (LG) geometry